


Harry Potter and the Secrets of the Silver Locket

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-08-31
Updated: 2006-08-31
Packaged: 2019-01-19 15:13:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12412731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: In an alternate fifth year, Harry finds that the mysterious owner of the initials A.I.L.S has taken up residence in Hogwarts. With a past as colorful as his own, she has her own problems to deal with. Unfortunately, matters are complicated when three fates entwine. Secret meetings, deadly nightmares, and a locket that promises to hold the key to more ...





	1. Snitch 1: Stars and Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

Chapter 1

 Stars and Surprises

 

By the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament Hermione asked Harry if everything was going to change now. Harry nodded and with that same complacent smile had simply said, “Yes.” 

 

The whole summer through the more he thought about her question the more he wondered how true it would be. Was change truly in the air at Hogwarts? Would he be prepared for it? Unfortunately Trelawney’s divination had never worked well for him and the answers he required were better left undiscovered until the beginning of his fifth year.  Summer in the Burrow certainly wasn’t boring, with the majority of the Weasley’s there was never a dull moment. And yet, there were those nights, those quiet nights when the hum of Ron’s gentle snoring would keep Harry awake, looking up into the stars for the answers. 

 

<i>Sweet dreams, mum, dad.</i> He thought on just such an evening in the closing weeks of July. Just a few days more and it’d be back to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. Then it’d be back to Hogwarts, his real home. As he looked up he remembered the proud, sad smiles as his parents bade him farewell that fateful night in the graveyard. Harry closed his eyes tight. It hurt to think of them. They were right there, if only he had thought of something better to say, something that would have made them…

 

<i>Stay?</i> He wondered. Dumbledore said that death couldn’t be reversed, it was foolish to try it. On nights like the ones near the end of July, Harry wasn’t so sure it was such a foolish endeavor. Dumbledore commanded his respect, not once did Harry question his greatness. However, there were those times that he wondered, that he dared to dream that somehow Dumbledore was just testing him and in the end Harry would find the answer he wanted. The one he wished for, on every star in the quiet night sky. 

 

~***~

 

            A pair of slender hands had very efficiently packed whatever was left to pack in the small dormitory room meant for four, lived in by one. No one would room with her anymore. There were always those horrid stories. If only the stories hadn’t been true. Maybe she would have better luck elsewhere.

 

It was foolish to hope. She’d hoped before. Now look where she was. She knew it wouldn’t get better. Not where she was going. Hogwarts, five years ago when she was young and silly she had leapt at the chance to attend. She couldn’t have understood why it was no then and yes now. If it hadn’t been for…well, many things she would have gone. Things were different now, she wasn’t as young anymore. Luckily, he’d be there and she could trust him. Erm...hopefully. After all, they'd never really met, just those little letters at the beginning of the year, so she could be caught up, just in case, worse came to worse. Whatever. It was all cliche to her now anyway.

 

Diagon Alley, it would be years since she’d last been there. Previously, he always insisted upon getting her school supplies weeks in advance and going alone. He didn’t want any of his other students to see him with a strange girl. Let alone, a non Hogwarts student. How they would gossip. Whispering snakes, all of them, and how they both hated gossip.

 

The candlelight wasn’t enough for her to see. Drat. It’d blown out. 

 

<i>“Lumos”</i>She breathed impatiently. Her wand glowed bright enough for her to continue. There wasn’t much time left, she’d have to hurry. She had to be away by the morning. The headmaster had put her foot down finally. There would be no more nightmares, no more screaming, no more disappearances, except they wouldn’t be going away permanently. They’d only be gone long enough for her to fall in love with Hogwarts, then they’d be back. Prompting her, working their way through her every nerve, taking her down, back towards the darkness. 

 

She shook her head violently in an effort to remove the chilling sensation growing at the back of her neck. Her eyes traveled down her arm falling over her old uniform carelessly thrown over her elbow. They stopped on her gloved forearm. She hated the sight of it. Had she been allowed to do as she pleased, well, she hadn’t. That’s why she was leaving. That’s why she’d have to take on her most feared foe and face the ugliest of her demons. She’d have to do that, and keep her marks up at Hogwarts. They’d expect her to be behind. She couldn’t help but smile with a certain quiet self-satisfaction at her accomplishments. Little did Dumbledore and McGonagall know that she’d had help, she would be ahead. He was responsible for that. 

 

Enough of the bantering. Morning was around the corner and those stars had begun to blink out one by one. She’d have a long trip ahead of her, London was a good stretch of the legs from here. It was time to go.

 

<i>“Nox.”</i>

 

                                                ~***~

 

Diagon Alley was crowded with people like usual. Harry and the others had all spotted Hagrid there already, still nothing out of the ordinary. But the air about the place was a lot more subdued. People didn’t smile as much, they huddled closer together, speaking in low tones sometimes jumping at nothing. The events following the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament had of course leaked out, despite the wild scrambling done by the Ministry of Magic to hush things up.

 

“Honestly,” Hermione said on just that subject, “you’d think that the way the ministy’s pussy footing around that Voldemort’s return hadn’t occurred at all . You can’t quiet it up. You just have to do damage control.” Ron, his mouth full of chocolate frog only elbowed her roughly, nodding in Harry’s direction. 

 

“Oh,” she mumbled falling silent. Harry didn’t seem to be paying attention anyway. He was standing in front of Ollivander’s thinking back about what Ollivander had first said to him.

 

<i>“It seems like only yesterday that your parents were in here buying their first wands.”</i>

 

“Harry?” Ron called quickly swallowing his chocolate frog. Harry shook himself. 

 

“Yeah?” He asked. 

 

“What else do we need? We’ve got An Assortment of Spells for Fixing Messes in the Mixing, Golden Rules for Fighting Ghouls, Rare and Curious Ingredients, Transfiguration for Intermediate Study, and we each need new quills. Anything else?” Ron read off the list checking each of the items in their arms. 

 

“Um, there’s a book on herbs we’re missing and owl treats for Hedwig,” Harry said finally coming out of his thoughts. Hermione and Ron looked at each other worriedly. 

 

“Listen,” Hermione said urging Ron in the opposite direction, “We’ll be right back.” 

 

Harry stood in the square. He was still thinking. The end of the Alley where the Leaky Cauldron Wall entrance had been Harry first real glimpse into the wizarding world suddenly burst open, with a sickening crash. In fact, it nearly crumbled into powder blowing brick dust towards any in its way. 

 

Harry squinted  into the distance as the smoke cleared. A single girl stood there dressed in Muggle clothes, holding her wand up where the wall had been. She looked around slightly embarrassed and then shrugged. She stepped through the carnage, and dusted herself off with one gloved hand while clutching a worn carpet bag in the other. 

 

“I take it, the wall’s not supposed to open like that,” She said casually to the first wizard she approached. The wizard nodded lazily not paying much attention to her. 

 

“It’s been a while, I couldn’t exactly remember how hard you had to hit the bricks. Sorry about that!” She said loudly, and set her bag down next to her for a moment. No one so much as blinked at her sudden appearance. She turned and clapped her hands. The wall leapt back into its original state, good as new. 

 

“I knew that would come in handy,” she said half to herself with a smile. She surveyed the unchanged atmosphere with an air of self-satisfaction and continued to make her way down the alley. Funnily enough, no one even seemed to notice that she had just blown up the wall, and then put it back together again. Everyone simply went on doing whatever it was they had been doing before she simply popped up. 

 

Harry kept his eyes trained on her in disbelief. She couldn’t have been much older than himself. How was she allowed to do magic and he wasn’t? She had a peculiar gait, that quickened and slowed as she walked, as if she walked to some mysterious rhythm, audible only to her. Her shoulders were shapely and her hourglass figure seemed to sway easily as she walked, as if she couldn’t have had a care in the world. Her thin arms were covered up her forearm in long black leather gloves, with her knobby elbows poking out on either side. Her long crop of reddish gold hair fell about her shoulders freely almost untidily whichever way she turned her head. She stopped for a moment and dug into her pocket, producing what Harry assumed to be a rumpled list of supplies. 

 

She didn’t even bother to smooth out the creases. She merely unfolded the paper and read it looking around rather lost at the various store fronts. Harry made his way through the crowd towards her. 

 

“Excuse me?” He called. She whirled around. A look of realization flew across her face, followed by a look of sudden uneasiness. Her previous confidence evaporated and she quickly glanced down at the list trying not to look him in the eye. 

 

“Yes?” She replied. 

 

“You look lost. Need some help?” He offered. She nodded still looking at the list. 

 

“Uh, sure,” Then she lifted her head up quickly as if she’d come to a decision about him, “yes, in fact,” she gave him a friendly smile, her violet eyes twinkling, “I’m completely lost.” 

 

“Well, over there is Ollivander’s, oh, you’ve got a wand. Well over there is the bookstore, cauldrons are that way, and potion’s stuff is over there-” 

 

“I’ve actually never bought my own school supplies,” She admitted suddenly with a certain amount of regret in her voice, “I would have no idea exactly what I should be buying.” 

 

“Oh.” Harry was surprised. She managed to have a wand but had never bought her own supplies? She was odder than her entrance to be sure. Still, she looked completely serious. 

 

“Alright then, come with me, we’ll start at the bookstore,” Harry said smiling finding her pleasantness contagious. They spent the rest of the afternoon picking out cauldrons, books and the like. She had an easy laugh and an honest smile.  Harry found it easy to be cheerful around her. He told her funny stories about how he inflated his Aunt Marge and the time he set the python on Dudley at the zoo. She would laugh and her eyes would gleam. She told him a few stories mostly ones she said where the kind that you heard from “so-and-so’s girlfriend’s cousin’s twelfth removed pet gerbil” and her own life was really rather boring. They finally ended up in G. Graffy’s Actually Green Tea Boutique,

 

“I’ll buy!” Both said at the same time. They fell to laughing again. 

 

“So you dress like a Muggle, but you own a wand, and have Wizard money,” 

 

“Appearances may be deceiving,” she said with a wry sideway’s glance, “Actually, I had to come a long way to get here to London, so rather than draw more attention to myself  than I do accidentally, I decided it might be best if I dressed the part of a Muggle teen on her way to the big city for a nice weekend holiday.” 

 

“Obviously, you’re a wizard, otherwise I doubt that you would have been able to put that wall back together,” Harry said. 

 

“Oh you noticed that?” There was something that rang of surprise in her voice but she was back on track before Harry could find it unusual, “But this is true. I am of wizarding decent.” 

 

“Pure-blood?”

 

She nodded, taking a sip from her glass. “Pure enough,” she said after swallowing, “it makes little difference to me.” 

 

“Would you mind if I asked you a question?” Harry asked leaning forward. She leaned forward as well finding his need for secrecy amusing.

“How did you use magic outside of your school?” 

 

“I’m not currently enrolled in a school, ergo I was never given one of those nifty ‘please refrain from using magic over the summer notes.’ That aside, there are certain things that one can do to bend the rules. Just a little mind you. Nothing serious enough to have the ministry breathing down my back. I have enough people doing that already,” She said  with a casual flutter of her hands around a peculiar locket near her throat. She winked at him. 

 

“Harry!” Hermione called suddenly. Harry turned to look as both Ron and Hermione rushed over to him breathless. 

 

“Where have you been? When we said we’d be back we didn’t mean you should go and wander off!” Hermione said, her face flushed from running. 

 

“She almost dragged me down Knockturn Alley looking for you!” Ron wheezed, “I told her you were too sensible to go down there. You gave us a nasty start. Where exactly did you disappear to?” 

 

“I’ve been in Diagon Alley this whole time, I was shopping with that girl,” Harry said forgetting that she was supposed to be right behind him.

 

“What girl?” They asked at once.

 

“The girl who blew up the wall by the Leaky Cauldron! You didn’t see it?” Harry asked. They looked at each other thinking in unison that Harry was crazy. 

 

“Sorry, Harry, missed the huge fiery explosion, was a bit too busy buying chocolate frogs. How could we have missed it? There couldn’t have been an explosion, we’d have heard it even if we hadn’t seen it,” Ron said beginning to think Harry was dodging the original question.

 

“You know, if you wanted to be alone you could have told us we would have gone off and finished off our shopping,” Hermione said finally. 

 

“Here,” Harry said turning to where the girl was, “you tell them.” Only where she was, she wasn’t. Her seat was empty, with only a glass of half finished green tea and a few coins next to it. There was not a sign of her anywhere, it was as if she’d never been there.

 

“But she was right here! I just had tea with her!” Harry sputtered when he saw the looks of casual disbelief etched onto his two friends faces. 

 

“Knew her that well? What was her name then?” Ron challenged lightly. Harry  looked puzzled. Though he’d spent a good three hours roaming Diagon Alley with her he’d never thought to ask her name. 

            

“I never asked her. I don’t know,”  Harry said finally, “Sorry about leaving you two before. I lost track of the time.” 

 

“Well, I guess, there’s no harm done, I got my exercise in for today running after Hermione,” Ron grinned, “and I’ve finished my shopping.” Hermione glared at him but it was all in good fun. Soon they were heading back the Burrow, Hermione would be staying with them until it was time for them to head to Hogwarts.

 

After the trip home, Harry kept wondering whether he’d seen what he’d seen. She was so real, but could he have imagined it? Was that kind of imagining even possible. The answer came faster than Harry thought, in fact, right after dinner. He and Ron were laying on the floor in his room, inspecting Ron’s famous chocolate frog card collection. He dipped his hand into his jacket pocket on a whim, and felt a peculiar piece of paper brush up against his skin. He pulled it out and it popped open on it’s own: 

 

<i>Dear Mr. Potter, 

            Thank you for the pleasant afternoon. It was fun! 

            Cheers! 

            A. I. L. S</i>

 

“Ails?” Harry repeated.

 

“What?” Ron asked. 

 

“Can you see this note, or is that not there either?” Harry replied brandishing it back and forth. Ron’s eyes followed it, so at least it must have actually been there.

 

“You’ve got a note? From who?” Ron perked up with interest. 

 

“The girl that blew up the wall, I tell you!” Harry knew by the look on Ron’s face that he didn’t believe him. 

 

“Oh that girl,” Ron was beginning to chuckle.

 

“Well, read it if you don’t believe me!” Harry thrust the note at him. 

 

“What are you two talking about now? Not about that imaginary explosion are you?” Hermione complained since she was trying to take a light nap before going back to reading the last few pages of<i> Golden Rules for Fighting Ghouls. 

 

Ron’s eyes widened as he read the note. “Ails?” He looked up at Harry quizzically for a suitable explanation. Harry just shrugged, he didn’t know what it meant either.

 

“What?” Hermione said rolling over onto her stomach before snatching the note from Ron.  Her eyes scanned the note slowly widening in astonishment as she finally finished and handed the note back to Harry. 

 

“She was pretty good at getting away quietly. Didn’t even notice she was there. Wonder what ‘Ails’ is.” Ron said, “I guess we both owe you an apology.” 

 

“Her initials, Ron, A. I. L. S. Funny though, she has two middle names,”  Hermione mused curiously, “I just read something about two middle names in a book on Mothering Magic. Can’t remember for the life of me what it was though, I keep mixing it up with Golden Rules for Fighting Ghouls. That’s another book worth reading.” 

 

“I’m in no hurry to completely ruin what’s left of this wonderful summer, Hermione. You go right ahead if you like, but I’ll stay as in the dark about ghouls aslong  I can until it’s assigned as homework.” Ron started laughing soon all three of them were giggling about it.

 

“Surprising though, I mean, you made the explosion sound like it was enormous,” Hermione said thoughtfully. 

 

“It was. It turned the wall to powder! Then she just clapped her hands and it went back to normal. No one else seemed to notice. That’s what really surprised me. They must have been used to that sort of thing I guess.” Harry shrugged finally, the mystery girl, alias A.I.L.S. had left him a puzzle that was beyond his grasp for now.

 

“Harry, I’m sure that most people wouldn’t have taken kindly to some Muggle-dressed underage wizard to blowing up a wall,” Ron said, “the Ministry must have captured her or something. Best to forget it.” Harry nodded reluctantly. All these questions and he hadn’t even gotten to Hogwarts yet. Well, at least the events of Diagon Alley couldn’t follow him to Hogwarts. Could they?


	2. Ch. 2

Chapter 2

_A First in Hogwarts History_

With so many surprises, Harry should have expected that some sort of special event crowning the beginning of his fifth year. But it was a great surprise that first dinner, right after the Sorting Ritual, on eve of the first term, that Professor McGonagall announced the entrance of a fifth year transfer student. The first in Hogwarts history.

“We don’t usually take transfer students,” McGonagall went on, “but seeing as though she did receive an entrance letter and circumstance prevented her from entering Hogwarts at that time, and throughout that time she has excelled in her study of magic, we were willing to make an exception. I hope you will all welcome her warmly.” 

Everyone leaned over to see as the doors to the great hall opened again. She stood there alone, tallish, thin and nervous like a shy gazelle. She held her bag protectively in front of her as if to ward off all the eyes fixed on her as she walked quickly forward. Her long over coat fell over her gloved arms, threatening to get caught under her feet. 

As she got closer Harry got a good look at her face. Her purplish blue eyes were wide in fear, her attractive smooth features turned down trying to look inconspicuous. Suddenly it struck him. It was the girl from Diagon Alley! He couldn’t help gaping.

“The poor thing,” Hermione murmured, “she looks absolutely petrified.” 

“I give her kudos for putting up with McGonagall’s theatrics,” Ron replied watching her Harry motioned excitedly to Ron and Hermione. 

“Do you know who that is?” He asked eagerly. 

“No,” Ron replied, suddenly looking as if he’d done something taboo, “should I?”

“That’s the girl that you said didn’t exist! That’s the girl who blew up the wall!” Harry quipped pleased that he could finally prove that she actually did exist. 

“Not again, Harry,” Hermione said letting her head fall into her folded arms with a dull thud. 

“But it is her!” Harry insisted, but they weren’t paying attention.

“I know it was her,” Harry said quietly watching as she approached. She was just passing their part of the table when the dangerous overcoat caught under her and she lurched forward, sure to fall. She hit the stone floor and the hall erupted into laughter except for a few kind hearted souls who watched piteously as she lay there for a moment, probably burning up with embarrassment. Keeping her face riveted to the floor, she began push herself off the floor, her gloved hands reaching out for something to help her up.

Harry turned quickly around and offered her his hand. Her hand fell across it and she looked up in surprise. She blinked back at him for a moment in gratitude. Harry watched as she realized who he was. He smiled. Her eyes traveled back and forth from their hands to his face. As if something suddenly occurred to her, she recoiled, throwing herself back and quickly getting to her feet. 

She continued on her way, the laughter having died down to a few ill-tempered snickers mostly on Draco Malfoy’s side of the Slytherin table. McGonagall seemed to relax as soon as she made her way to the front of the hall and turned as she had been told to.

“I’m pleased to introduce, Miss Alcyone Spellbinder. Due to time constraints, we have already sorted her into a house. She will be housed in Slytherin until the end of this term. I trust the members of Slytherin house will make her feel welcome,” Professor McGonagall gave the Slytherin table a warning glare and quickly allowed Dumbledore to begin the dinner. Now it was Ron’s turn to be excited.

“A Spellbinder? No way!” He was grinning from ear to ear. 

“What’s so special about her?” Hermione said, feeling just a tad jealous. 

“The Spellbinder’s were, er, I guess they still are, one of the most prominent pure-blood families in the wizarding world. The last Spellbinder here was a friend of my dad’s, Virgil Agamemnon Nestor Spellbinder. That would explain her two middle names. He was in Hufflepuff.” 

“Why would that explain anything?” Hermione asked, watching as Alcyone nearly ran from the front of the hall towards her spot at the table. 

“It was a tradition, I think. My dad didn’t talk about Virg, much. Especially after he suicide and all. Terrible blow for dad. Good pals, they were. My dad knew about Virgil getting married quietly the way he’d always planned to one of his graduating class, but Virgil never mentioned any children. He didn’t have time I guess, after all, from what my dad has mentioned Virgil wasn’t the type to keep in touch. Terribly forgetful chap. Never seemed the foolish type though, dad never thought he’d buy it like that,” Ron said falling into a reverent silence.

“How’d he die?” Harry asked. 

“Messy, my dad said, a lot of red tape around the incident. Terrible blow for his parents. Old Socrates Spellbinder was heartbroken, died only weeks later, then his wife, Cynthia, a week after that,” Ron looked around nervously before whispering, “My dad says that Virgil blew himself up on purpose. Pointed the wand at himself and then POP, like a balloon.” Ron flashed his hands leaving his listeners to piece together a mental image of their own.

“That’s horrible!” Neville piped in. He had been listening all along. He was pale and trembling just thinking about it. Hermione reluctantly nodded, looking a little guilty for thinking sharply about her before. 

_She’s certainly good at hiding it…kind of like me._ Harry thought. By the way she seemed in Diagon Alley, you wouldn’t think that she had lived through something like that. Harry always felt that something like that would have Harry looked over at her and their eyes met. She quickly looked away as another student asked her some sort of question.

“What about her mother?” Hermione asked, “Is that who she’s been living with?” Ron shrugged. 

“I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that my dad never liked the girl. Didn’t talk about her much. She was in Slytherin. Dad never put much stock in that house. The only time he ever talked about her was to complain about her. Never said who she was. I never thought to ask him. I haven’t heard anything about the Spellbinders in a long time though, perhaps she abandoned them both, maybe she died too. Who knows? It’s not that important,” Ron said with a final shrug.

Harry turned back towards the front of the hall as McGonagall began to drone through the rules all over again for the first years. His eyes lazily trailed from one end of the table to another until they fell over Snape’s spot. He wasn’t there. Something akin to hope warmed Harry through to his toes. Maybe Snape was finally gone for good. Two minutes later, all hope vanished as Snape’s steely glare poked out of the back door to the Hall as he slid his way in, and shut it gently behind him. 

He looked more pensive then usual this evening. Probably angry about having to keep track of a student who was about four years behind the rest, that was Harry’s theory. On closer inspection, Harry realized there was something else. Snape actually looked worried about something. Until then, Harry had never seen a hint of doubt on his Potions Professor’s face. Now he found it so etched into his expression he couldn’t miss it.

~***~

What idiot thought up that kind of entrance? Alcyone made sure that she grabbed the proper spot at her table and refused to look anywhere else. She felt silly in her robes and even sillier sitting next to a bunch of giggling eleven year olds. What she could do to them if they so much as made one comment about her fall. She thought dangerous thoughts about them until one of the older students offered to switch spots with her. Alcyone breathed a sigh of relief and gratefully accepted. Where had all her usual confidence gone? It probably stayed buried with what little her reputation had been worth after she’d fallen. Her face felt hot at the mere thought of how she must have looked. Especially in front of both of them. How could she have let something like that happen?

A platinum blonde head peered into her face and sneered, “Walk much?” Alcyone could see in his eyes whose son this was. 

“At least I don’t hang on my daddy’s apron strings, Mr. Malfoy,” She sniffed coldly. 

“So you have heard of me?” He asked with a conceited little smile. 

“What self-respecting wizard hasn’t? Your penny-anty pan handling for whatever your father could buy you has gained you quite a reputation among the more legitimate wizards.” Alcyone wasn’t even going to let him glory in that little ego trip for very long. The look she was getting now confirmed her victory and he quickly turned towards Dumbledore pretending to listen to the opening of the year announcements. 

Alcyone looked about her table, there didn’t seem to be any friendly faces. In fact most of them looked angry with her already. She hadn’t even broken any rules yet. Just wait until the real fun started. 


End file.
